Will This Price Target Decrease Hurt Mattel (MAT) Stock This Morning?

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- BMO Capital Markets lowered its price target for Mattel (MAT) to $31 from $33 Friday, reiterating its "underperform" rating for the toy maker.

Mattel fell -0.8% to $36.16 in morning trading.

The firm also lowered its EPS estimates for the company through 2015. Mattel is realizing lower margins according to BMO analyst Gerrick L. Johnson.

"Sales, margins, and EPS were all well below our and Street expectations, with steep declines in just about all sales categories," Johnson wrote. "We had thought that sales of toys tied to the Frozen movie and the benefit in the quarter from a later Easter could have offset declines in core product lines, leading to a 2Q increase in sales and EPS. However, the surprise was just how weak the rest of the business was in the quarter. This is the third consecutive disappointing quarter for MAT, and, unfortunately, we do not see much at retail that would indicate any sort of change in trend."

Separately, TheStreet Ratings team rates MATTEL INC as a Buy with a ratings score of B-. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation:

"We rate MATTEL INC (MAT) a BUY. This is driven by several positive factors, which we believe should have a greater impact than any weaknesses, and should give investors a better performance opportunity than most stocks we cover. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures, good cash flow from operations, notable return on equity and expanding profit margins. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had sub par growth in net income."